Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), led a mission to the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, which was invaded by Ukrainian forces on August 6.
Grossi warned of the danger of a nuclear incident amid the fighting in the region. “The danger or the possibility of a nuclear accident has emerged near here,” he told reporters.
The IAEA visit came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine had fired drones at the plant. Kyiv denied the charge, but Grossi said he saw evidence of nearby drone attacks.
“I was informed about the impact of the drones. I was shown some of the remnants of them and signs of the impact they had,” Grossi said.
According to Reuters, the IAEA chief warned that the KNPP was more exposed than most modern nuclear plants because it lacks a containment dome and a protective structure.
“This means that the core of the reactor containing nuclear material is protected just by a normal roof. This makes it extremely exposed and fragile, for example, to an artillery impact or a drone or a missile,” he said. “So this is why we believe that a nuclear power plant of this type, so close to a point of contact or a military front, is an extremely serious fact that we take very seriously.”
Grossi has also previously visited the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine, which was captured by Russian forces in February 2022 and has been controlled by Russia since then. IAEA experts are stationed at the ZNPP, and the plant and the area around it have come under frequent Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks.
Main Photo: A view shows the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) outside the town of Kurchatov, in the Kursk Region, Russia August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
Source: Antiwar.
